Watford FC - History Thread

2 photos taken from the top of the Vicarage Road end. One in 1979 the other in 2015. In 1979 I sat in row A seat 11 of the Shrodells stand.

 

I loved the vic as it was when i first came in the early 80`s but i always have thought , we do have a tidy little ground , would hate to leave

 

I miss the greyhound track...

 

As Virginia Slims used to say "You've come a long way baby!"

Good pictures!

 

Well if we were to leave then a new stadium would probably mean the 1881 could congregate behind the goal where they belong...

 

Not a good enough reason really , for me anyway

 

It's a unique stadium, am so glad we didn't end up with a retail park kit built monstrosity. Great photos; was characteristic then, too but we never were able to get an atmosphere like we can now.

 

That first pic is a little earlier than 1979. It appeared in the 4th division promotion souvenir brochure of 78. Reason i know this is because i scanned the pic


PS The dog track was removed at the end of the 78/79 season .. and the South West corner was also concreted over for the first time.

 

Cheers I was not 100% of the year I guessed 79 as it looked like that are working on S/W corner were they away fans got moved to that season

 

fark me i'm old . i remember the main stand (east/sej) without the "new" square bit on it!

 

With the stand and running now, perhaps it is time for the clock

 

Yeah confused me a bit that as well.. as it looks like the work on that corner has started but the first season with away fans in that corner was the first season back in div 2 (79/80) That pic is defo 78, or earlier. So if they did the work on the S/W corner at that time we must have had one season before the away fans moved in.

Have you seen this pic of the Shrodells before?

 

The East stand extension was built in 1969 wasnt it Bert?

 

Wasn't the Shroddels stand dismantled and brought from Cassio Road to Vicarage Road in 1922?

 

Not sure Cabro. Wouldnt be the first time stands have been moved but i dont recall reading that was the case with the Shrodells.. or Union stand as it was first known. I could be wrong though and i will do a bit of research about that.

 

Yes you're right.

 

Yeah seen hat photo. Before Stevohorn
I was standing about were the old photo was taken when Mo Johnson scored the ET diving header winner against Luton in The fa cup 2nd replay in 84

 

When we built the Rous wasn't it dismantled again, sold to the Scummers and isn't it still there?

 

Yes about then. It appeared in my 2nd season, think I was 9.

 

I remember it being built although I'd never have remembered the year. I do remember my dad thinking how posh it looked at the time though. Ha!

 

I think the main stand extension opened in the 69/70 season for a game against Birmingham.

As for what happens to old stands, driving on the A38, just past Buckfastleigh, looking to the fields on the left is a stand that was at Torquay, and subsequently for point to point racing

 

Cost about £50,000 which a lot of people thought was a waste of money then!

 

What were the two chaps doing in the photo of the Old stand as I thought that was a cinder track

 

Lots of happy memories of the fireworks, that image reminded me how great that was.

 

That is a photo of work being done on the SW corner when Concret terracing was put in.
In the 79/80 season away fans were mover from the red lion corner to that corner and Hslf of the rockery

 

I remember when they first opened the Almen Abdi Megastand, 2036 was it? Replaced the old Vicarage Road stand which was less than half the size.

Oops, posted this in the wrong year.

 

Yup the old ground looks rather quaint ...... but it still held a darn sight more fans than The Vic does nowadays with all its new stands. I'd be quite interested to know how many we could fit in today if we tossed all the seats and Elf n' Stacey out of the window. I'd wager we'd be a 40k+ football ground (not a bloody stadium) going on memories of WHL/Upton Park/Maine & Elland Rd etc from back in the day .... maybe more - even that bunch of filthy scruffs up the road used to get 20k on occasion (usually when we went up there and filled their biggest terrace - the Kenilworth Road end - to show them what a football crowd should look like!).

 

I remember New Year's Day fixture 1985 when I was rammed against the little white wall at the front on the NW terrace in a crowd of over 27k (edited after referring to Watfordarchive.com). Mind you my dad regaled me wth tales of 70k + at Stamford Bridge just after WW2!

 

I never understood why the Main Stand extention was a completely different shape to the Main Stand? Our ground wouldn't have looked quite so ridiculous if it had at least matched! Anyone know why this was?

 

Cost.

 

Probably cost.. but i wondered whether the long term plan was once to take down the old stand and extend the newer part the full length.



Griffin Park also has two different builds on the main stand side.. but the roof line is disguised at the front with boarding.

 

Good spot.

 

Apparently it was just the roof that was brought over from Cassio Road. The rest of the stand was built on site.. at a cost of £1,250.

Another pic here..

 

i think the red seats were added later, pretty sure there was shallow terrace in front of stand originally,

 

Yes Bert.. it was originally a standing paddock in front. Seats were bolted on to the terracing in the early 80's.